and it became necessary to have a new bill passed and duly
engrossed three weeks later.[8] Therefore the commission for the Council
for Foreign Plantations is dated December 1, 1660.

An analysis of the membership of these two councils and of the
membership of the Royal African Company, created soon after, shows many
points of interest. The Council of Trade consisted of sixty-two members,
that of Foreign Plantations of forty-eight,[9] and that of the African
Company of sixty-six. Twenty-eight members are common to the first two
bodies, eleven are common to the Council of Trade and the Royal African
Company, and eight are common to all three groups. These eight are John
Lord Berkeley of Stratton; Sir George Carteret, Sir Nicholas Crispe,
Sir Andrew Riccard, Sir John Shaw, Thomas Povey, Martin Noell, and
John Colleton. The other members common to the two councils are
Lord Clarendon, the Earl of Southampton, Earl of Manchester, Earl of
Marlborough, Earl of Portland, Lord Robartes, Francis Lord Willoughby,
Denzil Holles, Sir Edward Nicholas, Sir William Morrice, Arthur
Annesley, Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, William Coventry, Daniel O'Neale,
Sir James Draxe, Edward Waller, Edward Digges, William Williams, Thomas
Kendall, and John Lewis; while among the other members of the Council
for Foreign Plantations are such well-known men as Sir William Berkeley,
Capt. John Limbrey, Col. Edward Waldrond, Capt. Thomas Middleton,
Capt. William Watts, and Capt. Alexander Howe. Thus the merchants,
sea-captains, and planters, men thoroughly familiar with the questions
of trade and plantations and intimately connected with the plantations
themselves are members of the Council of Plantations and sometimes
of that of Trade also. It is significant that among the four London
merchants common to all three groups should be found the names of Noell
and Povey. Their associates, Crispe and Riccard, were persons well
known in the history of London trade, and probably the four names
represent the four most influential men among the merchants of London
who supported the King. When we turn to the work of these councils we
shall see that Povey and Noell were active members also.

However uncertain we may be regarding the influence of Povey and Noell
in shaping the policy of Clarendon and the King, that uncertainty
disappears as soon as we examine the instructions which were drafted
to accompany the commission for a Council for Foreign Plantations.
The inst